Gannon Receives Two NASA Grants for Undergraduate Research

Posted: September 26, 2013

Gannon University received two grants from NASA for
undergraduate research.

The first grant, worth $49,998, is for Gannon students to
develop a device to detect high-energy particles from space called
"cosmic rays." The project is led by Gannon professors Nicholas
Conklin, Ph.D., assistant professor in the physics, and Wookwon
Lee, Ph.D., associate professor in electrical and computer
engineering.

NASA's Undergraduate Student Instrument Project (USIP)
Educational Flight Opportunity Fund is financing the grant. As a
result, an interdisciplinary team of Gannon's science and
engineering undergraduate students will gain hands-on experience by
designing and constructing a detector to measure cosmic rays. Once
completed, the detector will be carried to an altitude of 120,000
feet by a high-altitude balloon for approximately a six-hour
flight.

The second grant, totaling $20,000, was through the Pennsylvania
Space Grant Consortium (PSGC) to engage underrepresented,
undergraduate students in research in several of Gannon
University's science and engineering laboratories.

The NASA/PSGC grant, which is financed through NASA's Space
Grant Innovative Pilot in STEM Retention, involves seven Gannon
professors in science and engineering disciplines that will
collaborate to provide a prolonged and meaningful research
experience to increase the retention rate of underrepresented
students.

"I am very pleased that the NASA and the PSGC recognized Gannon
as one of their partners for the efforts to improve the retention
rate of underrepresented students in STEM fields," Lee said. "I am
sure our students will greatly benefit from this grant and from the
efforts of the Gannon professors involved."